WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2019) White House adviser Kellyanne Conway defied the subpoena and did not appear at a Monday meeting at the hearing at the US House of Representatives Oversight Committee, the committee said, threatening to hold Conway in contempt.
"Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, announced that the Committee will move forward to hold Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway in contempt of Congress if she continues to defy a duly authorized bipartisan subpoena for her testimony about her repeated violations of Federal law," the committee's statement said.
Pat A. Cipollone, a Counsel to US President Donald Trump, directed Conway not to appear at the hearing, citing her immunity.
"The Department of Justice (the "Department") has advised me that Ms. Conway is absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony with respect to matters related to her service as a senior adviser to the President," Cipollone said in a letter addressed to Conway and released by the White House.
This is not the first time Conway failed to appear at a congressional hearing about her alleged Hatch Act violations. She was invited to testify on June 26 but she did not appear.
The 1939 Hatch Act banning US executive branch officials from engaging in political activities does not apply to the president, vice-president and certain other designated high-level officials, according to the Congressional Research Service.
